Improvement in corsets



' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES noWE'Rs, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORSETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,045, dated June 6, 1865.

To all whom 2115 may concern..-

Be it known that I, JAMES Bownns, of the city, county, and State of New York, have in vented a new and useful Improvement in Corsets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a corset made according to my invention. Fig. 2 shows aportion thereof on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of one of the springs. Fig. 4 is a sectional view, showinga portion of a spring in place.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

Thisinvention consists in a new mode of making corsets and applying the springsused in them, whereby one is enable to remove them for the purpose of washing the body of the corsets, or for any other purpose.

Corsets are now comm only made with fiat metallic springs inclosed within the stuff of which the corsets are made, along the front edges thereof, or else fastened along said edges on the outside of the stuff. In order to unite the edges of the corset on the person of the wearer, the springs are furnished with hooks and eyes, or equivalent fastening devices, which are riveted to the faces of the springs, or otherwise secured thereto. These springs are fastened to the body of the corset in a permanent manner, with no provision for removing or detaching them for any such purpose as cleaning or repairing the corset, or of renewing or repairing the springs. In consequence of this construction the corset cannot be washed when it has become soiled without wetting, and there by rusting the springs, and the common course now is to wear a corset without washing it until it is worn out, and its place is then supplied by a new one.

My invention has for its object to construct the corset and apply the springs in suchaway as that the latter can be removed at pleasure. A designates a corset made according to my invention. The illustration given in Fig. 1 shows how it is applied and worn. B are its front edges, brought and held together by means of strings d, which can be tied or hooked together, or fastened by means of buckles, or by any other kind of fastening suitable for such use. Along the said edges of the cor sets I make sockets D, extending from top to bottom, to the interior of which sockets access is had through transverse slits c, at or near the bottom of the corset, on the inner side. (See the section in Fig. 4, where the slit of one of the socketsis seen.) The slits may be made at the top, instead of at the bottom, of the corset. The sockets D are designed to receive springs G, whose contour is to be such as to fit the female form, and which are designed to hold the garment close to the person. The springs have several holes made throu gh them at suitable points, which holes may be pro tected by metallic eyelets a; or they may be finished smoothly, so as to dispense with such eyelets. Similar holes are made in the thicknesses of the fabric which compose the sockets, and the holes in each thickness are protected by metallic eyelets, or by other suitable device, to prevent the fabric from fraying. The holes in the fabric are placed so as to coincide in number and position with the holes in the springs. The springs are inserted into the sockets through the slits e, and the slits can then be tacked or closed by means of a thread and needle or other suitable means. When the springs are in place, they are held in proper position by means of the same strings, or other fastening devices which are used to connect the edges 13 of the corset upon the person, and such strings or other devices will pass through those holes or eye lets a of the fabric and springs which are coincident with each other. From this construction it follows that when a corset needs to be washed the springs can be removed therefrom with facility, andafter ward replaced without any other changes in the garment than the removal of the string (1, or other fasten ing device, and the opening of the slit e. The corset and its springs are therefore preserved in their integrity, notwithstanding their separation.

The springs C may be of any kind of metal, or of whalebone or gutt-a-percha, or of any 2 nears other elastic material suitable for this use. or their equivalents, passing through the eye- Springs for bodices, stays, and waists of dresses I leted stays within a duplicate fabric, also eyecan be fitted and applied in the same manner leted, all substantially as shown and described.

and with like advantage. J AMES BOWVERS.

Having thus described my invention, I claim Vitnesses: as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- M. M. LIVIXGSTON,-

A garment connected by means of lacings, l C. L. TOPIJFF. 

